10
votes
Accepted
Why is Cristiano Ronaldo known as “C罗” in Chinese?
C for Cristiano
罗 for 罗纳尔多 (Ronaldo)
Apparently before him:
Ronaldo (罗纳尔多) (Luís Nazário de Lima) was known as 大罗
Ronaldinho (罗纳尔迪尼奥) was called 小罗
So, with big (大) and little (小) already taken, ...
Mou某♦
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8
votes
Accepted
Why do Chinese writers have three different names?
You probably know something about the intricacies of Chinese names prior to the downfall of the last dynasty, picking names at different stages of life was common among intellectuals.
In the case of ...
- 7,188
8
votes
Accepted
Where does the middle name go in a name that has been translated into Chinese?
Very easy, just use Wikipedia to find examples, such as:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is listed as 沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特 on Chinese Wikipedia
Johann Sebastian Bach is 约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫 in Chinese.
Thomas Alva Edison ...
- 7,188
7
votes
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Why did people sometimes call Liu Bei "明将军"?
It's an honorific, meaning "illustrious" or "enlightened general", and as such is not specific to Liu Bei.
For example, in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Pei Song's annotations ...
- 4,335
7
votes
Accepted
Chinese names: Gah-Ning
Although it is a potentially valid to use the slightly derogatory "cute" nickname, it is much more likely to be a more standard-sounding given name, for example 佳寧 or perhaps 嘉寧, both pronounced ...
- 6,423
7
votes
Are people's names always pronounced the same in Mandarin?
The pronunciation is the same for the last names.
For example, 華 must be pronounced as huà for the family name.
When it is in the first name, it can be pronounced as huā, huá or huà.
They can decide ...
- 1,463
7
votes
Is it correct to call the UK 英国？
It is correct.
Chinese people used the translation "英国" in the 18th century when the Emperor of Kangxi was still alive. It was 英圭黎. Scotland joined the kingdom in 1707, but this translation ...
- 1,273
6
votes
What does mean zhōngxing from ZTE in Chinese?
中兴通讯的前身是1985年由航天系统的691厂以及运兴香港电子等共同投资创办的“中兴半导体”。而“中兴”名字由来有二：一是因为691厂是中方企业，港资企业为运兴，各取一字，成为“中兴”；第二个更为重要的原因是“中兴”暗含中国兴旺的意思。这也正表达了当时创业者侯为贵寄望中兴通讯振兴民族通信产业的理想。后来，中兴通讯称谓先后经历了中兴维先通、中兴新的变化，但始终坚持“中兴”二字。如今，“中兴通讯，...
- 366
6
votes
Accepted
How would you say "X, the Y" in Chinese?
Domestic animals like dog, cat, horse, cow, pig, goat, chicken and duck are often described with a single syllable word in Chinese:
狗，猫，马，牛，猪，羊，鸡，鸭
There are few exceptions, For example, snake is ...
- 77.2k
6
votes
When 少 is used in someone's name, is it always pronounced shào？
Because shào and shǎo has different meaning. shǎo means few/little, and shào means young. When used in names, it is usually intended to address a young person respectfully.
As a given name or as a ...
- 61
6
votes
Why the surname 유 (Yoo) is translated as 刘 instead of 余 or 于？
I don't think it is translated as much as it is that every Korean family actually has their own Hanja.
According to Wikipedia's List of South Korean surnames by prevalence
유
can be one of four ...
Mou某♦
- 35.7k
6
votes
Accepted
In the film 流浪地球, why is a character nicknamed '户口'?
The main character's name is 刘启
Break his first name 「启」 apart, and you'll get 「戶口」. That's how his nickname came about.
The character 启 contains the meaning of "enlighten". It has nothing ...
- 77.2k
6
votes
When you first meet someone, sometimes they say (for example): " 我是小朋...“
The vast majority of Chinese characters have homophones (同音字), other characters with exactly the same pronunciation. That's why we might need to clarify which character we are referring to. It's like ...
5
votes
Are there readings exclusive used only for people name?
So I wonder, are there readings exclusive for a name without any preceding usage (meaningless/not used in historical names)?
I think it is very unlikely to have a reading in a name with no meaning at ...
- 77.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Must Japanese people's name be mapped to equivalent Chinese characters?
Yes, if a Japanese name can be written in kanji, it is customary to read these kanji in its Chinese character pinyin, the Japanese pronunciation play no part.
The Japanese pronunciation of "田中" is "...
- 77.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Alternative name for Hong Kong 香港
香江
ABC Canto:
PLACE WORD
another name for Hong Kong; refers to especially to Victoria Harbor which resembles a river separating Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon Peninsula
是次畫展於香江舉辦
si6 ...
Mou某♦
- 35.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Why would 人 be used for names?
Having 人 in the name is not uncommon, especially the first character of the first name
"人 (X) " = 人中之(X) " = (X) among man
Examples:
苗人鳳 - phoenix among man
狄人傑 - elite among man
張人龍 - dragon ...
- 77.2k
5
votes
Help choosing a Chinese name among a few shortlisted ones
Any answer would be very subjective
In my opinion, 孙博良 is the best choice. Not only it sounds similar to Paulo, the characters also are common in native Chinese names and with positive meanings.
「...
- 77.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Describing and meaning of the name 楚胜天
When I hear the name 胜天, the first thing that comes to my mind is the idiom "人定胜天"
人的智慧和力量可以战胜自然 (Human wisdom and strength can overcome nature)
The name 胜天 implies optimism and confidence
...
- 77.2k
4
votes
Accepted
How do I pronounce romanised Chinese names which lack tone marks?
As a native speaker, this is what I do in such a case:
If my listener is not Chinese, does not know Chinese, or I am speaking in an event that doesn't require my listener(s) to know Chinese - I ...
- 837
4
votes
Mandarin Chinese Most Frequent 1000 First Names (中国最常用的1000个名字)
I don't think there's an official account for the top 1000 most used first names. But here is an interesting statistic I've found.
In this image, it says the top 10 most used first names are:
英(ying)...
- 881
4
votes
Where does the middle name go in a name that has been translated into Chinese?
There are two ways to translate a non-Chinese name. The first is to use transliteration with the · character separating name parts. The order of name parts is not changed and the meaning of name ...
- 1,837
4
votes
Accepted
How to write your original (non-Chinese) and Chinese name, jointly
Your best source is 百度 百科 here's some examples of how they do it:
基努·里维斯（Keanu Reeves）
布兰妮·斯皮尔斯（Britney Spears）
奥兰多·布鲁姆（Orlando Bloom）
So the format here is: transliterated first name + · (...
Mou某♦
- 35.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it correct to introduce yourself as "我是 name"
From a grammatical point of view your sentence is correct. The pattern 我是 + name is a casual way of introducing yourself. Personally I heard that a lot.
However, in formal situations using the pattern ...
- 619
4
votes
Are people's names always pronounced the same in Mandarin?
The pronunciation of a Chinese name is unique in almost all cases. Here are few particular cases.
There are very few Chinese polyphonic family names, like the above example 覃, it pronounced qín in 90%...
- 1,382
4
votes
Database of Chinese translations of given names?
the national academy fro educational research (國家教育研究院) of taiwan, maintained the bilingual data, several of these database are name related, and all of them are free to download 😸
學術名詞下載
entries ...
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4
votes
How common are the following Chinese names: 王朋 & 李友 & 高文中 & 白英愛? My Chinese coursebooks are full of them!
王朋 and 李友 sounds like 'Tom' and 'Joe' in English.
高文中 is not as common as the two above.
白英愛 sounds like a Korean name to me, very fashionable, There is a Korean pop star called 李英爱, as I know ...
- 6,247
4
votes
How common are the following Chinese names: 王朋 & 李友 & 高文中 & 白英愛? My Chinese coursebooks are full of them!
王朋: super common name
李友: sounds like a regular name, but I never see this given name in real life
高文中: a regular name. 文 is a very common character to put in the middle
白英愛: 爱英 is a very common girl'...
- 2,606
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